Cigarette



Nov. 12, 1968 J. c. BOLLES 3,410,273

CIGARETTE F'iled Jan. 16, 1968 H O J m N INVENTOR g 9'} JAmes CHAOBQUIZN Bones ATTORNEY S United States Patent 3,410,273 CIGARETTE James Chadhourn Bolles, 232. Cherokee Road, Charlotte, N.C. 28207 Filed Jan. 16, 1968, Ser. No. 698,205 Claims. (Cl. 131-8) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A cigarette having a fixed tip to allow a user to draw on the tip and cause burning of the cigarette without getting smoke into the mouth wherein the tip includes chambers aligned with one another and the cigarette. The chamber adjacent the cigarette has communication with the cigarette and atmosphere, and the chamber at the mouth end has communication with atmosphere and the users mouth. Interconnected propellers in the chambers cause air flow through the cigarette to atmosphere when the user draws on the tip. A fiavor disk may be used to flavor air drawn into the mouth.

Background of the invention This invention relates to tobacco smoking articles, and more particularly to cigarettes, cigars, pipes, etc. having an end attachment which permits them to be burned while eliminating the intake of smoke by the user.

The knowledge that tobacco smoking may cause serious physical trouble has led many smokers to desire to discontinue smoking. However, as the smoking of tobacco is habit-forming, stopping is sometimes quite diflicult. While the discontinuance of the use of tobacco is difficult for one accustomed to smoking, there is a secondary, very important, aspect to breaking the habit, and this is the problem of something to do with the hands. A person accustomed to smoking is in the habit of periodically taking a cigarette, for example, from a pack, lighting it, holding it in the hand, or first laying it upon an ashtray and then picking it up. This keeps the hands occupied. Consequently, when an attempt is made to break the tobacco habit it is necessary to overcome the desire for the tobacco taste as well as find some way to occupy the hands to replace the habit-formed routine of tobacco handling.

Efforts have meen made to provide a device to assist a tobacco smoker to break the habit, or continue to smoke without harmful effects. These have resulted in articles of various types, using different means to accomplish the result. In at least one instance, a cigarette holder was proposed that would enter the mouth of the user. While the basic idea is practical, the means employed were somewhat complicated and cumbersome, resulting in a holder which is expensive to manufacture, bulky to handle, and which must always be available for use with conventional cigarettes. As most of the cigarettes today have expensive filter tips, the cost of the holder must be added to the cigarette. The cleaning of normal cigarette holders for re-use is another disadvantage.

Summary of the invention The general object of the present invention is to provide a cigarette, or like object, having integral means to allow burning of the cigarette while preventing any of the tobacco smoke from entering the mouth of the user.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a tipped cigarette, with means in the tip to cause the cigarette, when lighted, to be consumed when the tipped end 3,410,273 Patented Nov. 12, 1968 is in the mouth of the user and the user draws upon the tip in the normal manner of smoking, with additional means in the tip to prevent any of the smoke from the burning cigarette entering the mouth of the user.

Another object is the provision of such a cigarette wherein the tip contains a pair of chambers axially aligned with one another and the cigarette with one chamber being in communication with the mouth of the user and with atmosphere and the other chamber being in communication with the cigarette and atmosphere.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a tipped cigarette with aligned chambers with the chamber adjacent the mouth of the user having an impeller which is rotated by the user drawing on the end of the cigarette, and the other chamber having an impeller, driven by the first impeller, to draw air through the cigarette to cause a draft to increase combustion.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a cigarette of the character set out above, with the cigarette and its tip presenting approximately the same appearance as a conventional cigarette.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of one practical embodiment thereof, when taken in conjunction with the drawings which accompany, and form part of, this specification.

.Brief description of the drawings FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a cigarette embodying the principles of the present invention, the cigarette being shown in partially consumed condition;

FIGURE 2 is an end view of the cigarette, viewed from the tip end and considerably enlarged;

FIGURE 3 is a longitudinal, diametral section through the tip and a portion of the attached cigarette, the remainder of the cigarette being shown in elevation, with the section being taken on the line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a transverse section taken on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 5 is a side elevation of a cigarette having a slightly modified form of tip, portions of. ,the tip being broken away in section to show interior construction.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring to the drawings in detail, there is shown a cigarette 1 having a body 2 and a tip 3. The body is a conventional cigarette composed of a tobacco filler 4 and a paper wrapper 5.

The tip 3 is a tubular member having a cylindrical outer casing 6 of substantially the same diameter as the cigarette body. The casing is thin walled, and the inner end of the casing is fitted to the cigarette body end, or otherwise adhered to, or fixed to, the cigarette end. Casing 6 has an outer partition 7, spaced inwardly from the outer end of the casing, completely bridging the casing. There is also an inner partition 8 which is spaced inwardly from the inner end of the casing and lies adjacent the cigarette body end when the tip is in place. Midway between the partitions 7 and 8 is a central partition 9, dividing the casing between the inner and outer partitions into an inner chamber 10 and an outer chamber 11. With this arrangement, the tip is composed of the chambers 10 and 11, an open receptacle 12 to receive the cigarette body, and a recessed month end 13 to be received between the lips of the user.

The central partition 9 has a central opening 14 to rotatably mount a shaft 15 which extends the greater portion of the length of chamber 11 and the full length of chamber 10, having its end 16 seated in a recess 17 centrally of the partition 8. The shaft may have a circumferential rib 18 positioned to abut the central partition 9 within the chamber 10 so as to hold the shaft against endwise movement toward the outer end of the tip. The

seating of the shaft end 16 in recess 17 will hold the shaft against movement inwardly. Thus, the shaft is held against endwise movement but is free to rotate.

There is an impeller 19 mounted on the free end of the shaft within the chamber 11, The impeller may be of any desired type, but is shown as a small, fourbladed propeller. The propeller is fixed to the shaft so that rotation of the propeller will cause rotation of the shaft. Within the chamber 10, spaced slightly from the partition 8, a second propeller 20 is fixed to the shaft. Propeller 20 is similar to the impeller 19, and has its blades similarly oriented. The impeller 19 forms the driving means for rotating the shaft 15, and propeller 20 is a driven blade rotated by the shaft 15.

Impeller 19 is caused to rotate by air movement, and this, in turn, rotates propeller 20 to cause air flow through the cigarette body to produce the inhaling or suction operation commonly employed in smoking a cigarette. The flow of air is made possible by having chamber 11 in communication with the recessed mouth end 13 of the tip and with atmosphere, and having chamber 10 in communication with the cigarette reeciving receptacle 12 and with atmosphere. To this end, the casing 6 is provided with a circumferential group of spaced openings 21 centrally of the outer chamber 11, and a second circumferential set of spaced openings 22 communicating with the inner chamber 10. Outer partition 7 has a circular row of openings 23 near its peripheral edge, and inner partition 8 has a similar circular row of openings 24. Thus, each chamber is in communication with its adjacent and recess and with atmosphere, but there is no communication from one chamber to the other.

If desired, the cigarette may be provided with means to impart a menthol, or other chosen taste, to the air drawn through the cigarette tip. Such an arrangement is shown in FIGURE 5. Here, the cigarette body 25 has a tip 26 fixed to it. The tip is identical to the one previously described, except that there is a chamber 27 within the tip casing 28 on the outer side of the outer partition 29 to receive a porous disk 30 of menthol or other flavoring material, The partition 29 forms one side of chamber 27, and the other side is defined by a small, circumferential disk retaining rib 31. The chamber is approximately the thickness of the disk and the rib will serve to retain the disk in its position. It will be seen that any air flow through the openings 32 in partition 29 will also pass through the disk 30 picking up the flavor and carrying it to the mouth of the user.

The cigarette has the appearance, and is used and handled in the manner of, a conventional cigarette. When there is a desire to smoke, a cigarette may be taken from a package in the normal manner and the outer end of the tip placed between the lips. The end of the cigarette opposite the tip will then be lighted by applying a flame to the cigarette end while drawing in on the tip in customary manner. When the user draws on the tip, a suction will be created in the recessed mouth end 13 of the tip, which, in turn, will create a partial vacuum within the outer chamber 11 and cause air to be drawn into the chamber through openings 21, and from the chamber through openings 23 into the mouth of the user. This will create an air flow through chamber 11 from atmosphere to the users mouth in the direction of the arrows shown in FIGURE 3. The flow of air will cause impeller 19 to rotate and drive shaft 15. Thus, propeller 20 will be caused to rotate and move air into and out of chamber 10. The vane direction of propeller 20 is such that air will be drawn in through openings 24 in partition 8 and out of openings 22 in the casing 6. Air entering the openings 24 is drawn longitudinally through the cigarette body in the same manner as air is drawn through the cigarette in normal smoking. This will cause the cigarette to ignite, and provide the necessary draft to keep the cigarette burning, Thus, whenever the user draws on the tip, there will be suction applied to the cigarette body and smoke will be drawn through openings 24 into chamber 10, and from chamber 10 out through openings 22 to atmosphere. Consequently, smoke from the cigarette will be exhausted to atmosphere and the air which is drawn into the users mouth will be taken from atmosphere and be uncontaminated by the tobacco smoke. Nevertheless, the user will be going through all of the motions of conventional smoking, yet he will receive none of the harmful eifects. If the cigarette is provided with a flavoring disk, such as menthol, even the taste of the drawn in air will be substantially the same as would be the case in smoking a mentholated cigarette.

The present invention provides a construction whereby the appearance of a conventional tipped cigarette is maintained and the mechanism for producing the desired result can be extremely simple. This is accomplished through an in-line arrangement of the respective chambers, and no moving parts save a single shaft with propellers on its ends. The structural arrangement permits the use of very small parts, and the entire device can be provided at low cost.

It may be desirable to have small openings in central partition 9 that would allow a small amount of smoke from chamber 10 to enter chamber 11. This would enable the user to receive, or inhale, a small amount of smoke at the beginning of the withdrawal from smoking. Cigarette filters could be made in various colors, or have other means of identification, to denote them as smokeless or for small amounts of smoke inhalation.

What is claimed is:

1. A tobacco burning unit which will prevent smoke entering the mouth of the user comprising, means to hold a supply of tobacco, a tip having one end fixed to the :means to hold tobacco and an opposite mouth end, the tip including, a cylindrical casing, means in the casing forming an inner chamber adjacent the said one end of the tip and an outer chamber adjacent the tip mouth end, with the two chambers being in longitudinal alignment with one another and the means to hold a supply of tobacco, means in the inner chamber providing communication of the inner chamber with the means to hold tobacco and atmosphere, means in the outer chamber providing communication of the outer chamber with atmosphere and the tip mouth end, a shaft extending from the inner to the outer chamber, and a propeller in each chamber mounted on the ends of the shaft, whereby smoke will be drawn through the means to hold tobacco and be exhausted to atmosphere when the user draws air through the outer chamber into the tip mouth end.

2. A cigarette which will prevent smoke entering the mouth of a user comprising, a combustible cigarette body, a tip of the same general circumference as the cigarette body having one end fixed to the cigarette body and an opposite mouth end, the tip including, a cylindrical casing, means in the casing forming an inner chamber adjacent the cigarette body and an outer chamber adjacent the tip mouth end, with the two chambers being in longitudinal alignment with one another and the cigarette body, means in the inner chamber providing communication of the inner chamber with the cigarette body and atmosphere, means in the outer chamber providing communication of the outer chamber with atmosphere and the tip mouth end, a shaft extending from the inner to the outer chamber, and a propeller in each chamber mounted on the ends of the shaft, whereby smoke will be drawn through the cigarette body and be exhausted to atmosphere when the user draws air through the outer chamber into the tip mouth end.

3. A cigarette which will prevent smoke entering the mouth of the user as claimed in claim 2 wherein, there are means containing a flavor in the tip mouth end.

4. A cigarette which will prevent smoke entering the mouth of a user as claimed in claim 2 wherein, the means forming chambers within the casing include an inner perforated partition across the casing adjacent the cigarette body, an outer perforated partition across the casing adjacent the tip mouth end, and an imperforate central partition across the casing intermediate the inner and outer partitions.

5. A cigarette which will prevent smoke entering the mouth of a user as claimed in claim 4 wherein, there are means to prevent endwise movement of the shaft.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Blumberg 131-172 Butler 131-207 Bernhard 131-8 Geoifrion 131-170 X Marquette 131-171 Gaisman 131-170 X 10 SAMUEL KOREN, Primary Examiner.

J. H. CZERWONKY, Assistant Examiner. 

